Chapter Text
Virgil was just sitting around, taking a break from editing his most recent video when his phone buzzed. Assuming it was Logan checking that he was alright he picked up his phone to answer. But instead of seeing a text from 'Nerd' he found one from an unknown number.
Now Virgil usually didn't answer anything from an unknown number. After all, who knew what was on the other side? But at the moment his mind was not functioning like normal, and so despite his better judgement, he opened the text, and typed out his answer.
Unknown:Hello there!
Virgil:Who tf are you
Unknown:We met at Mia's party last night, Roman?
Virgil:I have no clue who either of those people are
Unknown:What? Are you sure?
Virgil:Pretty sure you got the wrong number
Virgil expected it to just end there, but nooooooo. It had to go on.
Unknown:Well this is embarrassing
Unknown:What are you like?
Virgil:Excuse me?
Unknown:What are you like? Personality, looks
Virgil:Why the hell do you want to know?
Unknown:I got a number expecting to have a new friend, might as well keep with
Virgil rolled his eyes. The nerve of this guy! However, the idea of having a friendship where the other person had no clue who he really was, felt appealing. Virgil hated the idea of getting fake friends just because he made videos on the internet that had just started to gain views. It was starting to get hard to find out who really cared about him and who just wanted clout. So this, was a great idea for him.
Virgil:Well what are you like
Unknown:I do a lot of acting, it's my job after all!
Virgil:You said your name was Roman right?
Unknown:Indeed, how about you?
Virgil changed the contact name to 'Roman', promising himself he'd find a better more funny one. No one on his phone had a serious name, not even his parent.
Virgil:Just call me V
Roman:Well aren't you mysterious
Virgil:Think of it like a video game, you'll unlock it in the future
Roman:I do like a good challenge
Virgil laughed and shook his head. Telling Roman his name might reveal who he was. Since 'Virgil' wasn't a common name at all. It's not that it was a bad name, it just was easy to recognize.
Roman:Just so that I'm not misgendering when I tell my friends about the mysterious man in my texts pronouns?
Virgil:He/him. I see you are a man of not being an ass too
Roman:Of course lol
Roman:He/him for me
Virgil:Got it
Virgil broke out in a grin. It happened every time someone asked him his pronouns. It already felt like he could tell Roman about IT, though, that was still a risk. Better to be safe and careful then get cursed out and possibly threatened.
Roman:So V, what do you look like?
Virgil:That's non of your damn business
Roman:Alright than keep your secrets
Roman:That came off hostile. Ops
Virgil:Its whatever i did too
Roman:I have a feeling we're going to get along
Virgil:Same thing here jackass
Roman:Wow! We're already on loving nicknames!
Virgil:Riiiiiight
Virgil put his phone to the side and returned to editing. Who knew making friends would be this easy? All he had to do was not be some YouTuber and lose his social anxiety and he'd have plenty of friends instead of the two that he had now. In fact... This was giving him an idea.
After about another half hour of editing Virgil opened Tumblr, making a quick update post about progress on the video before logging out of his account. It was time for Operation Fake Fan Account.
A thing Virgil tended to have trouble with was interacting with fans. Anytime he would attempt to basically the entire fan-base would freak out. It used to be doable but now that he was bigger, it was a lot harder.
So, instead of exploring the fandom on his own account, Roman had gave him the idea of making an account where he could pretend to be a fan, and go undercover in the world of the internet. He had a feeling it might not end well, but it had to be done.
After about an hour of going around the internet building up a persona that would be pretty easy to uphold Virgil decided to take a break and just relax. So he opened Netflix and started scrolling through shows. After a bit he chose one and just flopped, ready to start yet another series binge. He made a quick Tweet and Tumblr post about starting to watch the show,on his account of course, and put his phone away.
The internet was put on hold for the day.
Roman looked down at his phone with a grin. He had made a new friend, and the friend had no idea who he was. Roman had started off as a pretty small actor but after being the lovable gay side character(tm) in a Netflix show, he had blown up. He had no problem with the fame, but it sometimes got bothersome to find people who didn't just like him for the acting he did.
But here was someone who had no clue he was some famous actor. He could be a whole different person when texting this strange V. It was a bit odd he refused to tell Roman his name, but that could slide. Maybe his name was just weird and he wanted it to go unnoticed.
Roman flopped onto the couch and opened twitter. His heart skipped a beat as soon as he did.
(insert tweet of Virgil tweeting out: "Just started watching some show on Netflix called Jack let Go, no spoilers from any of you")
This, was huge. Jack Let go was the show where he was the side character. The replies were full of people talking about how Virgil was going to love Freddy, Roman's character.
Anxious247 aka Virgil was probably Roman's favorite YouTuber. He had been watching him since before either had blown up. And whenever Roman needed to play a character with anxiety or even that one time he needed to play a trans character, he used Virgil as a reference.
Virgil's content was really open and honest, and it varied from a serious video talking about his transition process to a really silly one where he 'turned' one of his friends emo. Virgil was Roman's idea of a perfect famous person, honest and not afraid to show his true self. And here that person was, watching to show that was his breakthrough.
What the hell was his life?
Roman quickly started freaking out to Patton, questioning if he should reply or just let it sit? Or like should he dm Virgil and ask if he wanted to collab? Would that be ridiculous? What the hell was he supposed to do here?!
What Roman didn't know was the person he was freaking out about, was the second contact down on his phone.